Prince Turki al-Faisal (new Saudi-US ambassador) and 911 lawsuit link

[phoebe]

Riyadh's former intelligence chief has been accused in US court documents of helping to fund al-Qaeda, report Paul Harris and Martin Bright

Sunday March 2, 2003

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/attacks/story/0,1320,906034,00.html

The Observer

The US lawsuit is seeking more than $1 trillion in com pensation from a list of individuals and companies alleged to have supported al- Qaeda. The claimants' head lawyer, Ron Motley, a veteran of successful anti-tobacco suits, has already called it "the trial of the century".

Now, after papers were served on Turki several weeks ago, the Saudi ambassador will be at the heart of it. Legal papers in the case obtained by The Observer make it clear that the allegations are serious and lengthy. Many centre around Turki's role as head of the Saudi intelligence agency. He held the post for 25 years before being replaced in 2001 just before the attacks on New York.

Turki admits to meeting bin Laden four or five times in the 1980s, when the Saudi-born terrorist was being supported by the West in Afghanistan. Turki also admits meeting Taliban leader Mullah Omar in 1998. He says he was seeking to extradite bin Laden at the request of the United States.

However, the legal papers tell a different story. Based on sworn testimony from a Taliban intelligence chief called Mullah Kakshar, they allege that Turki had two meetings in 1998 with al-Qaeda. They say that Turki helped seal a deal whereby al-Qaeda would not attack Saudi targets. In return, Saudi Arabia would make no demands for extradition or the closure of bin Laden's network of training camps. Turki also promised financial assistance to Mullah Omar. A few weeks after the meetings, 400 new pick-up vehicles arrived in Kandahar, the papers say.

Kakshar's statement also says that Turki arranged for donations to be made directly to al-Qaeda and bin Laden by a group of wealthy Saudi businessmen. "Mullah Kakshar's sworn statement implicates Prince Turki as the facilitator of these money transfers in support of the Taliban, al-Qaeda and international terrorism," the papers said.

Turki's link to one of al-Qaeda's top money- launderers, Mohammed Zouaydi, who lived in Saudi Arabia from 1996 to 2001, is also exposed. Zouaydi acted as the accountant for the Faisal branch of the Saudi royal family that includes Turki. Zouaydi, who is now in jail in Spain, is also accused of being al-Qaeda's top European financier. He distributed more than $1 million to al- Qaeda units, including the Hamburg cell of Mohammed Atta which plotted the World Trade Centre attack.

Finally the lawsuit alleges that Turki was "instrumental" in setting up a meeting between bin Laden and senior Iraqi intelligence agent Faruq al-Hijazi in December 1998. At that meeting it is alleged that bin Laden agreed to avenge recent American bombings of Iraqi targets and in return Iraq offered him a safe haven and gave him blank Yemeni passports.

Mods - hard to know where to snip on this one - so much to look at...

What the hell is the administration thinking on this one? That no-one will figure this out? Rovegate is a convenient cover?? WTF??

Turki was busy funding the Afghanis when they were fighting the Russians in the not so distant past...

Let's see what else we can find on this clown..

[benddem]

1. wonder which wife (wives) he'll bring

he has several...if not many.

[phoebe]

3. one of them thinks nothing of stealing multi-millions of dollars

Sunday Herald Sun August 19, 2001, Sunday
SUNDAY WORLD; Pg. 44

snip

AFP CAIRO: A rogue member of the Saudi royal family -- sentenced to three years' hard labour earlier this year for a multi-million dollar jewellery theft -- has used a legal loophole to sidestep charges of swindling her servants.

Princess Hind al-Fassi, sister-in-law of King Fahd, was accused of spending the salaries of 50 servants who cater to her every need at her hotel-home in Cairo.

snip

The princess, daughter of an Egyptian father and Moroccan mother, moved to Egypt 10 years ago after being expelled from Saudi Arabia and Tunisia for allegedly committing similar jewellery thefts.

Scandal followed closely behind. In February last year, an Egyptian court sentenced her -- in her absence -- to one year in jail for stealing $4.5 million from a financial adviser, but police made no move to arrest her.

Her husband, Prince Turki -- fourth in line to the Saudi throne and said to be "bewitched" by the princess -- was questioned by police in 1998 when Egyptian and Filipino maids accused him of holding them prisoner and refusing to pay them.

In September 1999, two nephews of the prince -- Fahd and Turk al-Fassi -- were jailed for beating up a policeman at the Ramses Hilton, while Prince Turki's bodyguard was jailed in a separate case for beating a cook at the same hotel.

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/news/princeturki.htm

Just what we need in Washington - more thieves amongst the crooks..

[rumpel]

2. Some info.

His comments on Governments, as Embassdor to the UK

http://www.globalagendamagazine.com/2004/princeturkialfaisal.asp

PBS Interview after 9/11

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/saudi_arabia/saudi_faisal.html

Delusional Bush Cynically Uses Fear as a Weapon in Sinking Re-election Bid
by Bill Gallagher
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views04/0601-12.htm

I have to go now. As I am interested in this I will probably check on more info later.

[phoebe]

4. more from 2002

New Saudi ambassador summonsed over Sept 11
By David Wastell, Diplomatic Correspondent
(Filed: 01/12/2002)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/01/wsaud01.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/12/01/ixnewstop.html


snip

An American court has issued a summons against the next Saudi Ambassador to Britain alleging that in his previous job he helped to fund Afghanistan's Taliban regime while it was sheltering Osama bin Laden, lawyers said yesterday.

snip

Last week Prince Turki came to the defence of his sister, Princess Haifa al-Faisal, the wife of Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, after allegations that some of the £33,000 she gave to the wife of another Saudi to help with medical bills ended up indirectly financing al-Qa'eda terrorists.

She said that "accusations that I contributed funds to terrorists areoutrageous and completely irresponsible".

In an interview with CNN in Saudi Arabia, Prince Turki refused to discuss the lawsuit but denied that members of the Saudi royal family would knowingly give money to al-Qa'eda. "al-Qa'eda is targeting the kingdom . al-Qa'eda has done terrorist operations in the kingdom.

"They are declared enemies of the kingdom. No one in their right mind would contribute to that."

Hmm..so why would * want him in Washington we ask ourselves???

[phoebe]

5. and of course, Riggs Banks and uncle Jonathan Bush

http://www.davidsirota.com/2004/05/bushs-uncle-is-executive-at-bank-fined.html

Bush's Uncle Is Executive At Bank Fined for Lax Oversight of Saudi Money

RIGGS BANK FINED FOR LAX OVERSIGHT OF SAUDI MONEY, WHICH MIGHT HAVE GONE TO TERRORISTS
According to the 5/14/04 New York Times, Federal regulators fined the Riggs National Corporation, the parent company of Riggs Bank, $25 million yesterday for "failing to report suspicious activity, the largest penalty ever assessed against a domestic bank in connection with money laundering. The fine stems from Riggs's failure over at least the last two years to actively monitor suspect financial transfers through Saudi Arabian accounts held by the bank." The 5/14/04 Wall Street Journal reported that of particular concern, Riggs failed to monitor "tens of millions of dollars in cash withdrawals from accounts related to the Saudi Arabian embassy," including "suspicious incidents involving dozens of sequentially numbered cashier's checks and international drafts written by Saudi officials, including Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan." According to the 4/18/04 Washington Post, Saudi Prince Bandar's wife, Princess Haifa al-Faisal, "may have used a Riggs account to donate money to a charity that then gave some of it to the Sept. 11 terrorists." According to the Washington Post, federal regulators "called Riggs actions a "'willful, systemic' violation of anti-money-laundering law." Riggs officials have "acknowledged years of deficiencies in reporting to law enforcement hundreds of millions of dollars in suspicious financial transactions by foreign customers, particularly those connected with the embassies of Saudi Arabia."

PRESIDENT BUSH'S UNCLE IS A CHIEF EXECUTIVE AT RIGGS BANK
According to the nonprofit Texans for Public Justice, Jonathan Bush is the President and CEO of Riggs Investment Management - a major arm of Riggs Bank. He is also the uncle of President George W. Bush. The President "credits the investors sent his way by this banker uncle as a key to his 'success' in the Texas oil industry in the early '80s." According to Public Citizen, the uncle Jonathan was a Bush Pioneer, having raised more than $100,000 for his nephew in 2000.

[phoebe]

6. slightly off-topic - remember he is a Wahabist..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6929801/site/newsweek/
Feb 7

‘Democracy Is Not Objectionable’
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki al-Faisal discusses reform, his country’s upcoming election—and why women can’t vote


snip

It's an interesting time to hand down such a harsh sentence, exactly at the moment that you’re embarking on this reform program.
Law is law. Nobody is above the law. And the legal system has total independence, and a judge will issue his verdict, regardless of what is happening in other sectors of society. So I think this is a manifestation of that, judges do not take into consideration except the legal aspects. Diplomats like us, we have to take all sorts of aspects into consideration before we say anything, but a judge will do it on his own and not be interfered with. But there is recourse for everybody who has been sentenced. As a matter of fact, there are three levels of appeal after the first sentence is passed, so if these people want to appeal the sentence they can do that.

snip

How do you square the reform program with coping with the threat of Al Qaeda and religious radicals?
Our commitment to reform has not been affected by our battle against terrorism. Our job was made easier by the fact that the terrorists themselves have been looked upon by the rest of society as extremely alien and extraneous. So one didn't have to practice the kind of things that were practiced in other countries to get rid of terrorism, either by, for example, general curfews that would impinge on people's movement and people's interests, or collective punishment.

How great a threat do you feel terrorism is to the kingdom’s stability?
I think it's a threat in terms of the fact that people can explode themselves, and have chosen to do that. It has to be dealt with, not just in security matters, but also in terms of ideology, in terms of social behavior, in terms of reforms to make sure that everything is being done to encompass everybody and not keep them extraneous and alien. But also I think it is very important to see that, particularly since the initial terrorist act in May 2003 there’s been an enormous economic boom. People were bringing their money from abroad and putting it in there. I think this is an indication of the people's confidence in not just the regime, but in their values and their institution.

Recently, a judge criticized three arrested dissidents for ‘using Western terminology’ in their calls for reform. Is the term ‘democracy’ gaining credence in Saudi Arabia?
The general among the people is to emanate from our traditions and to go from there. Democracy as a means is not objectionable, but it is looked upon as a means and not simply as an aim. In the 1950s and ’60 and ’70s, so-called Arab socialism came about. The big headline in those days was democracy, socialist democracy. We had elections in many parts of the Arab world, but they were a sham. They were not a signature of sovereignty. So the kingdom has taken its time in reaching the steps that we have taken, but we think that we have taken them on solid ground and therefore the effects will be more solid than the sham experiences that other parts of the Arab world. Democracy is not something that is perhaps indigenous as a word, but the concept and the means are not only acceptable, but they're going to be even more practiced in application.